Sealing member



y 1950 H. l. STANBACK 2,938,316

SEALING MEMBER Filed Jan. 25, 1957 7/ II 70 I IN VEN TOR. E Harris Z', fifdxzlaczz.

SEALING MEMBER Harris I. Stanback, Birmingham, Mich., assignor to Square D Company, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan 7 Filed Jan. 23, 1957, Ser. No. 635,801 2 Claims. (CI. 53-39 This invention relates to a sealing arrangement for articles having an aperture or opening therein and more particularly to a sealing disc for sealing an opening and having a provision in the sealing disc for securing the disc to the periphery of the opening in a simple and eflicient manner by the use of heat and pressure.

An object of the present invention is to provide a sealing disc for sealing an opening with the disc having provided therein a flowable adhesive material which is transformed to a flowing state upon the application of heat.

Further objects and features of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following specifications and appended drawings illustrating a certain embodiment of the invention in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a circuit breaker provided with the sealing disc of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a partial sectional view taken along the lines II-II of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a side view partially in section of the sealing disc of the present invention.

The sealing disc of the present invention is shown in association with a conventional circuit breaker. The circuit breaker, the construction of which forms no part of the present invention, comprises an open sided casing or base 1 of molded insulating material for the support of the breaker mechanism and a cover 2 of molded insulating material that closes the open side of the casing 1. The cover 2 is mounted on the casing 1 by means of a plurality of rivets 3. Both the casing and the cover are provided with top and bottom openings through which extend the operating and connecting members of the circuit breaker mechanism.

The fragmentary internal operating mechanism of the circuit breaker illustrated in the drawings of this application is more completely described in the copending application of Ralph H. Kingdon and Richard I. Scheich, Serial No. 513,946, filed June 8, 1955, for Multipole Circuit Breaker, which matured into Patent No. 2,889,428 on June 2, 1959.

The circuit breaker shown herein in association with the sealing disc of the present invention is adapted for multipole operation with circuit breakers of similar construction and is provided with an interconnectable common trip device whereby all poles of a multipole circuit breaker will be interrupted upon the occurrence of an overload condition in any one of the individual circuit breakers. The common trip mechanism comprises a cross bar 70 suitably supported in a pivotal manner in bearing recesses 71 and 72 in the casings 1 and covers 2, respectively. It should be noted that when the insulating casings 1, and covers 2 are molded, they may be provided with removeable knockout sections defining the bearings recesses 71 and 72. This construction enables the insulating casings 1 and covers 2, when molded, to be used both in single pole units, with the knockout in place, and in multipole units, with the knockout removed.

United States Patent A bar 86 of insulating material is positioned in suitable openings in the cross bars 70 of all poles of the assembled multipole device to operatively interconnect the cross bars of the individual circuit breakers.

In assembling the individual circuit breaker units, the molded knockout at the bearing recesses 71 and 72 will be removed from the casings 1 and covers 2 of each breaker, leaving a hole or opening 73 extending through the casings 1 and covers 2 providing pass through space for the connecting bar 86. For the two exterior walls of the assembled multipole unit, the holes 73 present openings to the interior of the breaker through which dust particles or flying matter may pass. In accordance with the present invention a novel sealing disc is employed to seal each of the exterior holes 73. The seal ing disc 90 is simply constructed and easily and economically secured within a hole 73 with a minimum of manipulation.

Referring particularly to Figure 3, it may be seen that the sealing disc 90 is of laminated construction having an adhesive thermoplastic material 91 sandwiched between outer layers of substantially rigid insulating material 92 and 93. The adhesive material 91 is in at least semi-solid state at normal temperatures, but is of the type which becomes of a flowing consistency when subjected to higher temperatures.

The sealing disc 90 is of suitable contour to fit into the space evacuated, i.e. the hole 73, upon the removal of the knockouts in the casings 1 and covers 2 of the circuit breaker and is of a construction to fit reasonably snugly within the opening 73. Upon positioning in the opening 73, the sealing disc 90 is heated and slightly compressed to cause the adhesive material 91 to flow. With the concurrent application of heat and pressure to the sealing disc the thermoplastic adhesive 91 will be squeezed from between the substantially rigid layers 92 and 93 to contact the walls of the openings 73. Removal of the heat will permit the adhesive to return to its semisolid or congealed state, allowing the adhesive material of the disc to solidify and secure the sealing disc in place.

The sealing disc of the present invention provides in the example illustrated for a simple and efiicient means for closing an opening, as in walls of a multipole circuit breaker. Previous sealing arrangements required the insertion of a first sealing disc, a layer of glue and a second sealing disc with the consequent possibility of the adhesive material seeping into the interior of the device.

With the sealing disc of the present invention the seal may be made extremely rapidly and with little concern for ilowage of the adhesive material.

While certain preferred embodiments of the invention have been specifically illustrated and disclosed, it is understood that the invention is not'limited thereto, as many variations will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and the invention is to be given its broadest possible interpretation within the terms of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The method of sealing an enclosure for an electrical circuit interrupting device having an opening through an exterior surface thereof, the steps of positioning in said opening a sealing member of laminated construction having exterior surfaces of insulating material and a sandwiched surface therebetween of thermoplastic adhesive material, applying heat to said sealing member to render said adhesive material plastic, applying pressure to said sealing member to extrude a portion of said adhesive material from between said layers of electrically insulating material and into contact with the opening in said enclosure, and removing the heat and pressure to permit said adhesive material to bond said sealing member to said enclosure.

2. The method of closing an opening having a peripheral edge face, said method comprising the steps of positioning snugly in said opening a laminated member having a thermoplastic adhesive material disposed between exterior ones of said laminations, applying heat to said adhesive material to render it plastic, applying sufficient pressure to said exterior laminations While said adhesive is in the plastic condition to extrude' a portion of said adhesive from between said laminations and into contact with said peripheral edge, and cooling said adhesive material to bond said laminated member to said peripheral edge.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Frisco Sept. 9, Neher et al June 29, Farrell et a1 Aug. 3, Smith May 31, Brennan Feb. 3, Lindorf Dec. 11,

OTHER REFERENCES Proceedings of The Institute of Electrical Engineers, vol. 97, part 3, January 1950, page 63. 

